Becky Lynch Battled Irish Stereotypes in the WWE — and Won

Today is St. Patrick’s Day. While it’s been embraced as a party holiday in the United States, it is both a source of pride and embarrassment for people of Irish descent like myself. To have your family’s culture boiled down to leprechauns, pub crawls, step dancing, and puking in the street is a dubious honor. St. Patrick’s Day in America fails to represent the true indefatigable spirit of the Irish people, and yet it’s the image of Ireland that every Irish person — native-born or not — has to confront on their own terms. And no other Irish performer has navigated these waters as well as WWE star Becky Lynch.

Wrestling is a sport that embraces over-the-top characters, and as such it’s riddled with performers who gamely lean into the stereotypes about their culture. So when Dublin native Rebecca Quin started performing with NTX, WWE’s developmental league, she adopted the “character” of Becky Lynch, who was a balls out Irish stereotype. This Becky Lynch had bouncing red curls, a clover green costume, and a cringe-worthy Irish step dancing gimmick.  In an intro video to her WWE Network collection, Lynch reminisces about her early days by tactfully calling the time one of “discovery,” and pointing out that her penchant for step dancing was “god awful.”

“For me, it was just wanting to be in there so bad, and thinking, ‘Oh, well, I’m Irish. Let’s not ignore the fact,’” Lynch said. “But of course, we didn’t have to display the fact.”

Lynch soon began to shed the stereotype, leaning more into her own unique personality. She dropped the jig and started wearing a hooded steampunk ensemble. As years went on, and as her star rose, Lynch helped usher in the “Women’s Revolution.” It was an important time for women in WWE, when stars like Lynch, Paige, and Stephanie McMahon pushed the company to give the ladies more respect. Eventually the women’s division were no longer called “Divas,” and year-by-year, the women have been given more time in the ring, and higher billing on the roster. All this just makes Becky Lynch her own kind of “Irish revolutionary.”

Today Lynch isn’t just one of the top stars in the WWE, but thanks to a spectacular storyline last fall, she’s arguably become the biggest name in the current roster. After years of playing the face, Becky didn’t quite turn heel, so much as she took control of her destiny and re-named herself “The Man.”

Almost immediately, Lynch’s new persona, stripped of cutesy jokes and steampunk coats, took flight. She strutted into the ring, flagrantly attacked her rivals, and began to present herself as confidence incarnate. Her argument for her own greatness resonated with the audience.

“[Fans] want somebody that they can look at and emulate,” Lynch told Yahoo Sports in December. “Someone who knows when enough is enough. When they’ve been passed over continuously, undermined, underestimated and they say, ‘No, you know what, I deserve this. I worked for more than this, I am more than this. I’m going to show the world.’ That’s what [I’m] doing.”
What Lynch was also doing was displaying a kind of rough, tough, determined spirit that defines true Irish culture. Most Irish people I know aren’t riverdancing their way through pubs as much as they are devoted to working their asses off to better their lives. A strong work ethic is intrinsic to the Irish experience, as is stubbornness and sly, mischievous wit. Lynch might not be as bubbly as she once was, but she still is devastating with a dig. Which makes sense to me because my family’s version of bonding is roasting each other mercilessly. Rather than get outraged by a brutal burn, you’re taught from an early age that if you can’t roll with the punchlines, you can’t actually call yourself “Irish” with any sort of pride.

Lynch’s biggest moment to date is arguably last November’s SmackDown Women’s invasion of Monday Night Raw. She tackled and embarrassed Ronda Rousey in her dressing room, and then proceeded to storm the ring with the women of SmackDown in tow. It was exhilarating to watch. More inspiring, though, was Becky’s reaction to having her head hit and nose bloodied in an error. Instead of cowing, she crowed. She kept fighting and as she left the ring, turned back and raised her arms in triumph. It’s a darkly comic reaction to getting the crap beat out of you, but it was one that made this Irish American woman remember the power in laughing at your oppressors and never giving up.

If Becky Lynch’s first WWE persona was a flagrant stereotype of Irish culture, “The Man” current looks to me like what being Irish actually is.
Even the fact that she calls herself, “The Man,” hits a nostalgic chord in my heart. I know the nickname is a reference to dominating the wrestling arena, and that “The Man” is the person who can’t be knocked down. But I grew up being told by my Irish-American mother that I came from a family of strong women on both sides, and that both my Irish grandmothers were the “men” of their houses. To be a strong Irish woman is to take no shit and to lead everyone around you. It is to be something more than just a girl, a lass, lady, or woman. You are “the man of your house,” just as Becky Lynch is now.